1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for managing multi-media content for real-time distribution and transmission to a user.
2. Description of the Related Art
The demand for real-time transmission of multi-media content for video-on-demand and internet-related applications is increasing. Accordingly, distribution of real-time multi-media content is on the rise, and the new multi-media content will have a larger variety of content types.
Multi-media content may be accessed via user pull applications and provider broadcast applications. In the user pull applications, the user manually selects the content to be remotely accessed. In the provider broadcast applications, the real-time multi-media content is distributed to all users, and the users locally select what is to be accessed, such as, for example, via a set top box of a cable television system. New ways of accessing multi-media content (discussed in further detail below) are constantly being developed for professional, commercial, and consumer applications.
The real-time multi-media content delivery is delivered via a network, such as the Internet or a cable television system, to users connected to the network. Users may be connected to the network via high bandwidth connections (i.e., DSL and cable connections) or low bandwidth connections (i.e. wireless links). Furthermore, the users use many different types of stations to access the network, including mobile stations, such as mobile phones, pagers, and Personal Digital Assistants, and work stations, such as Personal Computers and network terminals.
The provider uses equipment connected to one or more networks to provide the multi-media content on demand to the user. However, the provider's equipment and the transmission path between the provider and the user each have a limited capacity. Once the provider is transmitting at the full capacity of the equipment in the transmission path, the provider must either make itself unavailable to further users or increase the capacity of the equipment. Known solutions to the scalability issues are limited by the available bandwidth to each user based on the capacity of the equipment.